Families of the victims of the Santa Fe High school shooting in 2018 have settled with an online ammunition store that sold ammo to the shooter.
According to Everytown Law, who represented the families in the lawsuit, the agreement in the settlement requires the seller to maintain an age verification system at the point of sale for all ammunition sales.
"Age-verification for ammunition sales is a no-brainer, especially when the sale is conducted online," said Alla Lefkowitz, Senior Director of Affirmative Litigation at Everytown Law. "It simply should not be possible for a minor to go online and have ammunition shipped to their house, no questions asked."
In May 2018, Dimitrious Pagourtzis, who was 17 years old at the time, allegedly used a prepaid gift card to buy the ammunition two months before the shooting from the online store LuckyGunner, and it was shipped by Red Stag Fulfillment.
The lawsuit alleged that LuckyGunner "acted negligently and with willful blindness" by selling the ammunition to the shooter. It also alleged that the online store had intentionally set up an online sales system through which it would not know or verify the ages of its customers, and that Red Stag Fulfillment, LLC, shipped LuckyGunner's ammunition to the shooter without conducting its own age-verification.
The shooting left ten people dead, including two teachers. One of the victims was Sabika Aziz Sheikh, who was an exchange student from Pakistan. In a statement her mother said she hopes the agreement sents a message to other sellers.
"[I]t's your responsibility to prevent your products from ending up in the wrong hands."
"Sabika's killer should never have been able to go online and buy ammunition with a few clicks," said Abdul Aziz, Sabika's father. "I rest easier knowing that this settlement agreement will prevent future illegal sales."
In a released statement, LuckyGunner referred to the case as dismissed, and said they were being attacked by "well-funded anti-Second Amendment groups who travel the country using the courts to promote their agenda."
“We didn’t agree to do anything we weren’t already doing," said Jake Felde, Chief Executive Officer of Lucky Gunner. "We’ll continue investing in a world class experience for American gun owners. We want ammo sales to be secure, convenient, and cost-effective for every law-abiding American.”
Further details of the settlement were not disclosed.